Author: darkhavensTitle: Practice Makes PerfectPairing: Harry/Ron of Harry PotterRating: PGWords: 1053Concrit: darkhavens @ slashverse.comDisclaimer: Not mine, never will be. No harm, no foul, no money made.Summary: Ron asks a favour of HarryNotes: Written for rene_0629 in return for a donation to the_fund. I hope this is what you wanted. :D

"Harry! Harry, wake up, you've got to help me!"

The panicked whispering, not to mention the hand frantically shaking his shoulder, dragged Harry Potter out of his dream just before he snagged the Snitch that would have won England the cup.

"It's going to be awful, I just know it is. I'll probably break her nose or bite her lip, or do something worse. You've got to help me, Harry! You have to think of something!"

Through half open eyes, Harry could see that Ron was seriously agitated. His hair looked rumpled and tufted as though he'd been tugging at it for hours. Harry knuckled his eyes and tried to wake up enough to understand.

"What are you talking about? Whose nose do you want to break?"

Ron looked horrified.

"I don't want to break her nose, Harry, that's the whole point! I need to be able to kiss her without worrying about what goes where. Important stuff, like which way to tilt my head and when to use my tongue. Oh, and where I should put my hands while I'm doing it!"

The whole impassioned speech was somewhat marred by the fact that by necessity it was whispered so as not to wake the rest of the dorm inhabitants. The last thing they needed was an audience of curious boys.

Harry blinked, repeatedly, then shuffled himself into a sitting position and studied his best friend.

"You need to learn how to kiss and you came to me to teach you how. What makes you think that I…?"

A fair complexion could really be a curse sometimes; blushes stood out like glowing neon signs. Ron fidgeted.

"I, ah, saw you - you and…" He grimaced. "Well. I saw you kissing and you looked like you knew exactly what to do. Neither of you were fumbling or awkward or…"

He sighed and looked down at his hands, watching them worry the fraying ends of his pyjama cord. Harry's complete stillness betrayed his surprise.

"Oh. You… You never said anything. It was… We're not… I didn't mean to… Huh. So. Do you want me to explain it step by step, or…?"

This time they both blushed.

"Explaining would be good."

"Okay. Well, you need to make eye contact and hold it while you move in close. Then you lean in and tilt your head, and you wait. That gives her time to tilt her head the other way, and then you… kiss."

Ron leaned forward, listening intently, frowning when Harry's description came to a halt.

"And?"

"You…" He shrugged. "You kiss. Look," he said, as Ron rolled his eyes in frustration. "It's not like I was taking notes the few times it's happened. It's one of those things that just kind of happens and you go with it. I don't really remember much about details, it's more like 'Wow!' and 'I really can't believe I just did that'. It all just kind of blurs together."

The sound of someone snuffling awake on the other side of the room brought them both up short. Ron slid off the bed and aimed a determined glare at Harry.

"This isn't over."

* * * * * * *

Neither of them brought up the subject during the day, too wary of curious ears catching something they'd rather share, though the subject was never far from their minds. But once the dorm lights were off and the final lumos spell had flickered out beneath it's caster's thick blanket, Harry slipped out of his bed and crossed to Ron's.

He bit his lip in indecision as he watched Ron sleep, then straightened his shoulders, gritted his teeth and drew the bed's curtains, shutting out the rest of the room and the faint curls of moonlight. He had a plan.

A quick shake was all it took to wake Ron up. Living with the twins had taught him well.

"Wha…?"

"Shhh! It's me, Harry. I… I think I know how to teach you how to kiss."

Before he lost his nerve, he lifted his wand and cast a simple spell, bathing their inner sanctum with the faintest glow of light.

"You're my best friend, Ron, and I know you'd do the same for me, so… I'm going to kiss you."

Ron cut off the startled squeak before too much of it escaped, and he scrambled out from beneath the blankets to balance on his knees.

Ron's eyes almost popped out of his head as Harry drew nearer, and then he swallowed hard and closed his eyes. Tilted.

Harry shook him lightly.

"Lesson one? The people kissing need to tilt their heads in opposite directions. Open your eyes and we'll try it again."

Ron opened his eyes, rolled them, grimaced and tried again, this time tilting his head the other way. He watched as Harry drew closer and closer, and jerked back roughly at the very first touch of warm lips on his.

"Sorry. Sorry! Panicked. Sorry. Um… Can we try it again?"

This time Harry curled one hand around the back of Ron's head, determined to get this lesson over and done with. The other arm slipped around under Ron's left arm and flattened itself between his shoulder blades. Harry paused for a moment and thought about logistics.

"Ron? When I kiss you, put your arms around my waist. It's the best starting point, and you can leave them there or move them later. It's… neutral ground."

He didn't wait for Ron to do more than reach forward before leaning in, tilting and pressing his lips against Ron's own. They froze like that for a second, as the air around them seemed to hum, and then they were pressing closer, instinct coming to the fore.

Ron learned fast, chasing Harry's tongue with his own. Their hands clutched and stroked, petted and palmed. When they finally drew apart to take in badly needed breath, those hands were slow to loosen and fall away.

It drives me nuts. No matter how carefully I check, I always always find an error when I post at LJ. Even though I do a 'preview' before actually posting, I always seem to notice at least one gaffe once it's up and visible. I'm sure there are gnomes who live in the Update Journal section of LJ and who create these typos in those few seconds between clicking the Update button and loading the page. *scowls* Evil little things.

He bit his lip in indecision as he watched Ron sleep, then straightened his shoulders, gritted his teeth and drew the bed's curtains, shutting out the rest of the room and the faint curls of moonlight. He had a plan.

For some reason, that's one of my favorite bits. I love the way they're both like "Let's just get this over with." And then:

Oh, I'm so glad! I sat and watched my HP3 DVD and felt kinda pervy for checking out what the boys were wearing to bed and did the beds really have closeable curtains and... LOL! But it was worth it. *g*

HEE! Slash of any kind is a really new thing for me, and I was doing okay with it until my husband popped in our CoS DVD the other day, and I was kind of staring at it going "Dude...they're totally twelve years old!" So I feel the pervy pain. However, I console myself with the thought that they are past legal age in all of the...uh, grown-up stories I read, so as long as I don't think too much about it, I do okay. :D

LOL! I've been a happy slasher for almost two years now, and until recently was totally faithful to my original pairing, Spike/Xander of Buffy. And then my TV died and a friend lured me into Stargate: Atlantis by offering downloads and then linking me to Sheppard/McKay fic. (She knows I can't resist the snark - just look at my banner!) Now my best friend is trying to get me into to Harry/Draco and doesn't seem to be taking no for an answer, though I am resisting mightily. She also sticks to the legal age fics, so I can't use that argument against her. Damn. *g*

Hee! So far, I haven't branched out into other slash pairings yet, but I suspect it is not long on the horizon for me. I've already started noticing the HoYay! in every little thing I watch, which the hubby finds deeply disturbing, and I do not find nearly disturbing enough. Also, I now have an odd desire to go hunt up some Spander, which is something I quite honestly never even thought about before.My, what a slippery slope.

Yeah, that HoYay! reaction kicks in and never really goes away again. *g*

Spander caught me by surprise. I was bored one day and a friend was writing (oddly enough) HP fanfic so I did an LJ search and followed a Buffyesque link that led to another link offering Spike/Xander fic. Once I'd stopped laughing at the unbelievability of that particular pairing, I clicked and started reading, just for a laugh. I was in tears by the end of the first chapter and in love by the end of the second.

If you want to take a look at my stuff, you can find them easily enough in the links on the right of the page. The link 'spander_misc', under 'My Tags' contains all my one piece and complete works. They range from schmoop to D/s but it's all clearly labelled in the headers.

And if you find yourself falling for them, there's my community bloodclaim, which is the Spander hub of LJ. /shameless pimping. ;0

Slash was a total accident for me. I went looking for HP genfic, and I found this really long, involved story that listed itself as something like "genfic, later R/H"--which, being a total innocent, I read as "Ron/Hermione." I don't much care for that pairing, but I'm not, like, horrified, so I gave the story a shot, and it was fantastic, and then halfway through, suddenly Ron is hooking up with Harry. I was stunned, and nearly stopped reading, but I couldn't seem to put it down, and by the end of the story, a faithful--if bewildered--H/R 'shipper had been born. And, as confusing as it was to find myself suddenly embracing teh slash, I am so glad I did, because there are some fantastic H/R stories and authors out there.

Oops. Turning into the Great American Novel, so I'll shut up, but thanks for the info--I'll definitely be taking a look at the Spander!

This was great sweetie! And really cute - the cute that makes you go awwww... Of course, I love your ficlets anyway - you could probably do a synopsis on cheese, and I'd read it and love it... *Sigh*... I'm so sad...

I struggled for a while over this because a) it's so not my pairing, and b) I couldn't really imagine life after canon, so I had to keep them in Hogwarts and thusly couldn't get too porny. Hee!

I don't mind - I wouldn't get too porny with Harry and Ron either - but as long as you write another in this fandom, I'll be happy! Shoot - just WRITE and I'll be happy... Like I said - whore for fic - and a sad sack at that... *Sigh*...